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This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.
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UNCLASSIFIED/ 'FOR QSFICICP 1!55 ODIi X • There are several advantages of the dipole-assisted IEC. By applying the desired voltage to the cathode grid, high-energy ions are easily obtained, hence plasma heating is straightforward. Indeed in this case fusion is dominated by beam-beam (non- Maxwellian reactions). Also, the dipole magnet at the center of the device produces field lines that trap ions and compresses them within the inner radius of the dipole. Thus, a very high ion density can be achieved leading to high reaction rates via beam- beam fusion. Biasing the dipole magnet to the same potential as the cathode grid solves the problem of space charge build-up due to the high ion density at the center of Da!EC. DAIEC EXPERIMENTS The purpose of current experiments is to investigate the focusing effect of a dipole magnetic field in a spherical IEC. In particular, the primary goal is to measure the increase in plasma densities achieved by a dipole-assisted IEC. In theory, the introduction of a current ring or dipole coil into the base configuration would focus particles into the center of the dipole, increasing the plasma density at the core of the device. A schematic of the current experimental setup is shown in Figure 3.5. ,· ,:,· ,·, ' 1 i :· i I./ · '' ', •. ___ - __ _ --.-: ,_, -· ·- ,_, ·----- -~- Figure 3.5. (a} Dipole Magnetic Field and (b} Layout of Devices This experiment employs two split spherical grids as shown in Figure 3.5. Ions are created in the discharge between these grids and the vessel wall. They are extracted and accelerated by the grid potential so they pass through the dipole field of Figure 3.Sa. Experiments have confirmed that an order of magnitude density increase (vs. no dipole present) can be achieved in the center region. A double Langmuir probe is inserted at various positions throughout the center region. The use of a bias on the dipole magnet structure to control space charge build-up was also studied. In an ion-injected IEC partial space-charge neutralization at the core 30 UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'f811. 8ffiliiliR.k I.Iii O•lk¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.